ADELPHI,  Md. (WUSA) -- Metro is investigating complaints that a developmentally disabled man was taken on a mysterious 4-hour "ride to nowhere" by a cab driver contracted by the Metro Access system.

21-year-old Rory Doyle, who is autistic and functions at the level of a 7-year-old according to his father, carries a cell phone with GPS tracking software.

September 22nd, tracking records show Doyle was picked up from the program he attended in Gaithersburg and taken on a roundabout journey that went near Andrews Air Force Base and L'Enfant Plaza before he was delivered to his home in Adelphi four hours later.

"I thought he was being abducted," said father Bernie Doyle, who was tracking the trip in near real-time from a computer at his workplace.  Doyle says he was on the phone with Metro Access supervisors during the journey trying to get them to stop the driver and re-direct him.  According to Doyle, he was told the driver could not be contacted.  

"They still don't have an adequate program in place to deal with an emergency," Doyle says.

Doyle says his son did not appear injured when he was finally brought home, but the 4-hour detour has not been explained, he complains.

Metro launched in investigation Tuesday, according to spokesman Dan Stessel.

"We're looking at phone records and we want to talk to the driver involved," Stessel said.

Metro Access provides more than 2.5 million rides per year to physically and mentally disabled people who cannot otherwise access the Metro bus and rail system.

About 5% of the rides are provided by cab companies sub-contracted by Metro Access, Stessel said.